Concordia Ins. Co. v. School District No. 98, 282 U.S. 545 (1931)
Concordia Insurance Company of Milwaukee v.
School District No. 98 of Payne County, Oklahoma
Nos. 278
, 279
, 280
, and 281
Argued January 15, 1931
Decided February 24, 1931
282 U.S. 545
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. Upon demurrer, all allegations of the complaint which are sufficiently pleaded must be taken as true. P. 550.
2. Allegations of complaint held sufficient to constitute waiver of, or estoppel against setting up, condition in policy requiring insured to furnish verified proofs of loss. P. 548.
3. A stipulation in a fire insurance policy that any waiver, to be effective, must be written upon or attached to the policy does not apply to a waiver, after the loss occurs, of stipulations in respect of things to be done after the loss as prerequisites to adjustment and payment. Scottish Union & Nat. Ins. Co. v. Encampment Smelting Co., 166 Fed. 231, disapproved. P. 551.
4. Although it is well established that a federal court will follow the decisions of the highest court of a state construing a state statute, yet where, prior to the judgment of the district court, the decisions of the highest state court are in such confusion that its view in respect of the meaning of the applicable statute cannot definitely be determined, the district court is free to construe the statute for itself. P. 552.
5. A decision of the highest court of a state construing a state statute, rendered more than a year after a judgment of a federal district court, cannot be given a retroactive effect in respect of the latter so as to "make that erroneous which was not so when the judgment of that court was given." P. 553.
6. In the absence of an authoritative state decision to the contrary, there was nothing in Oklahoma Comp.Stat., §§ 5972 and 5973, which required a federal district court to depart from the rule recognized by this Court in respect of the allowance of interest, and, upon the record in these cases, suits to recover upon policies of insurance for loss and damage by fire, the allowance of interest from the date when the liability accrued was justified. P. 554.
40 F.2d 379 affirmed.
Certiorari, post, p. 817, to review judgments of the circuit court of appeals affirming judgments in favor of the respondent in four suits brought to recover upon policies of insurance for loss by fire. The cases had been removed from a state court to the district court on the ground of diversity of citizenship.